The Rotunda is a building located on the grounds of the University of Virginia.  It was designed by Thomas Jefferson to represent the "authority of nature and power of reason" and was inspired by the Pantheon in Rome.  Construction began in 1822 and was completed in 1826, after Jefferson's death.  The grounds of the new university were unique in that they surrounded a library housed in the Rotunda rather than a church, as was common at other universities.  The building was seen as a symbol of Jefferson's belief in the separation of church and education.

The Marquis de Lafayette and James Madison dined with Thomas Jefferson in the Dome Room of the unfinished Rotunda at the University's inaugural banquet, and Lafayette toasted Jefferson as the "Father of the University of Virginia".  This moved Jefferson so much that he later had the phrase inscribed on his grave stone. 

In 1895, the Rotunda burnt to the ground.  The students rescued a marble bust of Jefferson and a portion of the books from the dome room.  Shortly after the fire, the faculty drew up a recommendation for rebuilding the Rotunda.  In the new design, the wooden dome was replaced with a fireproof tile dome and other features were changed in the modified design by Stanford White.  Whereas Jefferson's Rotunda had 3 floors, White's had only two, but a larger Dome Room.  In 1976 during America's Bicentennial, the Rotunda was gutted and restored to Jefferson's original design and configuration.

The Rotunda is part of "The Academical Village" and closes the north end of a elongated rectangular green space known as "The Lawn".  On either side of the Lawn are two parallel rows of buildings known as "The Pavillions, connected by colonnaded walkways and student rooms.  This was Jefferson's concept, where students could live in close proximity to the professors and their classrooms.  Thus, the Rotunda, at the head of the lawn, becomes the focal point of the Academical Village complex.